Creator economy M&A is 'back, baby.' Here's where an advisor thinks the deal heat will be in 2026.

• Creator economy M&A deals were up over 17% year-over-year in 2025.
• Quartermast Advisors tracked last year's M&A market, which included a $1.4 billion sale of Vimeo.
• Who will be buyers in 2026? Quartermast predicts more activity from ad giants and private equity.

Is the creator economy in the midst of a comeback era?

Another year of increased M&A deal volume is a signal that the sector is in good health, according to James Creech, who advises creator economy companies via his M&A advisory firm, Quartermast Advisors.

While the industry — like many categories across tech and media — saw an unprecedented boom in attention and cash flow in 2021, Creech said the space battled through a "winter" through 2022 and 2023.

"We started to see these signs of recovery in 2024, and then all of a sudden last year was like: 'We're back, baby,'" Creech told Business Insider. "More investment, more M&A activity, larger deals, very high-profile transactions, public companies."

Quartermast estimated that 2025 saw a 17.4% year-over-year increase in M&A activity with a total of 81 deals.

Here are a few of the biggest ticket deals from 2025, according to Quartermast:

• Bending Spoons, an Italian tech company, acquired Vimeo for $1.38 billion in a deal that would take the publicly traded video platform private.
• Influencer-marketing platform Later acquired affiliate-marketing company Mavely for $250 million in a deal that was backed by private equity firm Summit Partners.
• Publicis Groupe, the French advertising giant, acquired influencer-marketing platform Captiv8 and Brazilian influencer-marketing company BR Media Group.
• Food delivery company Wonder acquired food-focused media company Tastemade for $90 million.

The first week of January 2026 already brought new deal announcements, such as ad agency PMG acquiring influencer-marketing agency Digital Voices, and media company Global acquiring sports YouTube channel The Overlap.

Meanwhile, creator economy startups — particularly social commerce and AI companies — closed out 2025 raising billions in venture capital, with at least 13 startups raising more than $50 million.

Who has buying power in 2026?

To gain a better understanding of which companies are driving M&A in the creator economy, Quartermast analyzed the companies that have historically been the most active buyers.

The biggest takeaway is a caveat: While many of these companies were historically very active, some have scaled back their M&A strategies or even faded away (in the case of Fullscreen).

Here are seven companies that have been active buyers in the creator economy over time, according to Quartermast's analysis:

Looking ahead at 2026, Creech said agencies and holding companies, such as Publicis and Omnicom (which recently completed its $9 billion merger with IPG), will continue to seek out strategic acquisitions and are the most likely buyers.

Creech includes Humanz, an Israeli influencer marketing company, in this category. Humanz announced in late 2025 that it raised $15 million in venture funding to fuel an M&A spree.

Talent agencies and management firms will also see more consolidation, Creech said. Creech predicts that the talent sector, followed by marketing technology platforms, will be the most active categories for M&A in 2026 after agencies and holding companies.

Private equity is expected to continue having a stake in the space, too, as firms "become increasingly comfortable with the creator economy as an asset class," Creech said. For instance, PE firm Silver Lake has played a major role in TikTok's ownership shake-up.

Companies building tools for creators' businesses, such as Patreon and Kajabi, could also be at the center of some deals, he added.

Finally, Creech expects non-creator-economy companies, such as traditional media companies or even food companies like Wonder, to continue making bets in the space.

"That's a sign that the creator economy is entering a new age of maturity and growth," Creech said.